Language Files & Localization

Language files are used to translate the Umbraco backoffice user interface so that end users can use Umbraco in their native language. This is particularly important for content editors who do not speak English.

Package language files

User language files

If you want to override Umbraco core translations or translations shipped with packages, you can do that too, these files are located here:

~/config/lang/{language}.user.xml

By default, these files are empty but you can add any new keys you want or override existing ones with your own translations. The nice part about the user files is that they will not get overwritten by the installer when you upgrade your Umbraco versions.

Using the language keys

Using core or custom language keys from your code:

From .NET

Services are available in most Umbraco base classes like Controllers and UserControls, from there, use TextService to localize string with format [area]/[key]:

From Angular

The localize directive can also be used as an attribute like below where the value of the title attribute is then populated with the dictionary key "title_name" from the language file using "@title_name".

Help keep the language files up to date

As Umbraco is a continually evolving product it is inevitable that new text is added on a fairly regular basis to the English language version of these files and this may mean that some of the above languages are no longer up to date.

If a translation is missing, the key "alias" used will be shown within the user interface, as an example:

[assignDomain]

The language files are fairly simple XML files with a straight-forward layout as seen below.

In the above example of a missing translation for "assignDomain", locate this string in the en.xml file and then copy the whole "Key" element into the relevant language file and translate the text, as an example here is the Spanish version of the above snippet:

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